Snapchat's AI flagged a private message sent to 3 people and alerted the FBI in under an hour, leading to a student teacher's arrest.

Sixty minutes. That’s how long it took for a private Snapchat message to travel from Kristen Volpe’s phone to the FBI to the deputies standing in her elementary school hallway. On January 29, 2025, the 22-year-old student teacher at John L. Hensey Elementary in Washington, Illinois, vented to her boyfriend and two roommates — three people total — after a student closed her laptop mid-class and wiped her lesson plan. She referenced shooting the student or the school. She meant it as a frustrated joke. Snapchat’s algorithm didn’t get the humor.

No student reported her. No parent. No coworker. The flag was entirely automated. Snapchat’s policy permits voluntary emergency disclosures to law enforcement — no warrant required — when the platform determines imminent harm exists. The algorithm makes that initial call. Think of it like your Ring doorbell deciding to call 911 on its own, except the doorbell is reading your text messages.

    • brucethemoose@lemmy.worldEnglish
      82·
      4 hours ago

      A large fraction lemmy.ml literally cannot participate in a thread without bringing up western imperialism. Like, it could be /c/superbowl picture of an owl, and somehow it would devolve into that.

        • AlteredEgo@lemmy.mlEnglish
          23·
          4 hours ago

          It certainly ruined Venezuela, because liberals and leftists still believe the US is democratic and has the moral high ground to denigrate and interfere.

          • djsiete@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
            31·
            3 hours ago

            You do know that liberals are not leftists, right? And that no serious leftist thinks the US is democratic? I’d call myself left and I abhor the US

            • AlteredEgo@lemmy.mlEnglish
              1·
              2 hours ago

              I literally say when the shit with Venezuela started that a ton of “leftists” as in “left wing politics” or people still fans of Obama - they supported the US action against Venezuela. How does that make sense if they do not think the US is still a democratic country. If you think your country isn’t “A” and accuses another country of not being “A” you’d call it hypocritical and not believe it. But they did.

              There is a serious disconnect there, and I believe it starts with doublethink or a type of disconnect where people know the US is not democratic, but still believe the US is democratic and fighting the good fight against “authoritarian” regimes.